Farming’s younger generation can teach older farmers how to use new technology, says Carl Tuck, who works on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border.

East Anglian Daily Times: Carl Tuck, who has chosen a farming career Picture: JOHN NICECarl Tuck, who has chosen a farming career Picture: JOHN NICE (Image: john nice)

Carl, 18, works for a beetroot operation employing about 50 people at Greens Farming at Soham, where he is a general farm worker. Once he finishes his education, he hopes to move into a management role.

"I think some of the older generation don't understand how all the new technology works. I think we have grown up with it so we can teach them how to use it," he says.

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"I think we are open to new ideas so those new ideas and ways of doing things can be helpful to the industry."

After school, Carl studied at Easton and Otley College before starting on an apprenticeship qualification. While at college, he captained an Easton and Otley team which travelled to Poland earlier this year to take part in Agrolympics - farming's equivalent of the Olympic Games.

Most of his day is spent working on tractors and at the moment he's harvesting. He's always been interested in farming, mainly because his dad fits tractor tyres, he explains.

"I was surrounded by it growing up and it just appealed," he says.

Carl loves being out in the countryside all day, no matter what the weather - "being free and outside" is one of the big benefits of a farm-based job, he says.

"Nothing really bothers me about my job," he says, adding that he loves what he does and would encourage others to do the same.

"I think that children need to be educated about farming from a younger age. It never came up while I was at school." He hopes that the farming industry will continue to evolve into bigger and better things, and doesn't think it will change much as a result of Brexit.

"I hope the wider public will continue to back British farming," he says.

He would encourage others to join the industry.

"I'd say have a go - lots of people seem scared of doing something different. So open your eyes and try something new - you might be surprised by it. That would be my message."